


Souvenir

by yaycoffee



Category: Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-29
Updated: 2012-07-29
Packaged: 2017-11-11 00:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/472284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaycoffee/pseuds/yaycoffee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice visits Underland in her dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Souvenir

Alice visits Underland in her dreams. Nightly, she closes her eyes only to open them seconds later in the White Queen's court or a field of gossiping flowers or to a mad tea party in the front garden of an old windmill. She loves Underland. She has traded barbs with the ever-grinning Chesshire Cat (and even come out on top a time or two). She has been led to the middle of nowhere more times that she can count by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. She has talked for hours with Mirana, seeking her advice on everything from family to business. The only advice Mirana will not give is that on love. She will not speak on Alice's daytime suitors--gracefully flitting to another subject, eyes twinkling with words not said, advice quite clear to Alice none-the-less.   
  
But, her favourite trips of all are when she moves beyond the garden and actually enters that ramshackle windmill, able to watch the Hatter (Tarrant, now) work at his trade, full of life and light and just so much happier than he was when she left. She marvels at how quickly his hands work scraps of fabric and felt, feathers and ribbon into the finest hats she's ever seen. She watches silently the look of absolute devotion that crosses his face as he's working. She smiles brightly when he's finished, holding up his newest creation for her to see, eyes twinkling green and gold, so proud.   
  
He is, indeed, making hats for court again, but he's chosen to live and work at the windmill, and Alice is secretly glad of this, too, because while Mamoreal is beautiful, the windmill is the Hatter's _home_. Everything in it, from the scraps of fabric littering the floor (and the cupboards and the sofas and the chairs) right down to the chipped china cups feel like home to her. Inside the windmill is glowing and warm, and Alice has wondered more than once if that glow comes from the hearth or from Tarrant himself.   
  
One morning, Alice wakes to find a hatbox on her dressing table. When she gets close enough to investigate, all she finds is a tag amongst the ribbon that says _wear me_. Eyebrows knitted together, she undoes the ribbon and carefully opens the lid. When she lifts the hat from its nest of fine tissue, she cannot control the gasp that escapes her lips. Her heart is beating loudly beneath her breast, and her hands tremble as she turns it slowly to see it from every angle. It is _stunning_ , all delicate beads and embroidery, tasteful wisps of feathers that look like air, netting as fine as gossamer, sparkling in all the right places. It is a delicate thing, but she knows how sturdy it is; she is not afraid of damaging it.   
  
She has it halfway to her head when she stops, holding it briefly to her nose. It smells of tea and wood and warmth--it smells of Tarrant, and she suddenly finds that she cannot place it atop her head. For she knows that if she does, it will smell of her own soap and not the Hatter's hands. If she were to wear it, it would become just another thing of this world, and she would be left, yet again, without a daytime reminder of her nighttime home.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "Alice refuses to wear a hat Tarrant made her. Why?" by wanderamaranth.


End file.
